A full tasting VaPer, though I suspect there's a little burley in here. The perique is a mild condiment, and doesn't offer much spice. The Virginia is earthy, grassy and hay-like with boldness. It's not very complex, but I did like the flavor. Slow burning at an even rate, and stays cool, though it's slightly harsh at the end. Really more of a two and half star blend for me, but I give it three because I just don't think it's a two star tobacco.

Fiammata is among the 4 new "Castello" blends which were a "must have" for me as a Castello pipe collector. Somewhat puzzled by "DK's" review, and what kind of weed he got(accidently?) for the first trial, I cracked my Fiammata tin (tinning code/date: 080613) first.

Smell: This is without any doubt straightford VAPer, indeed ! ...somewhat hay/grassy, but dominated by the smell of fresh baked sourdough rye bread and some dried fruit. Bingo ! It IS a VAPer, as per the tin description... Phew !

Smoking: Charring... yep, this is a straightforward VAPer !

Well... when seeing these 4 new "Castello" blends first time, and being made by C&D, I thought...huh... this might be "old wine in new bottles" ? ...sort of... Hence, Bayou Morning Flake carrying a "Fiammata' Label ? ...sort of...? ...WRONG !!!

Fiammata is something else... OK, in any case it carries a typical C&D Virginia taste "fingerprint", full, massive, more "earthy" than overly sweet, etc.. In short, I think the Virginia basis is C&D's in my view fabulous 'Opening Night'...plus some possibly deliberatly well chosen pinch of Perique, and ready is Fiammata ! So, most likely no "rocket science" in tobacco blending, but a very pleasing result. The Perique "rings the door bell" down the bowl, but never overpowering. What remains is a very enjoyable blend, dominated by the fascinating Virginia constituent. Well done ! A "spicy" and "creamy" taste, more on the "dark" side rather than being "bright" and therefore medium sweet... never annoying tongue or mouth, however along with a certain strenght.

In conclusion, Fiammata is a nice addition to other well known and established VAPer's in the marketplace, without much of "me too", hence stands for ist own, and therefore worth a trial. It smokes very fine, and you don't necessarily need to own a Castello Fiammata grade pipe to enjoy this tobacco ;-) ! I'm glad I pressed the "add to cart" button.

Remark: Fiammata goes also well along with a glass of red wine, if "evening cappuccino" is not your cup of tea... ;-)

This one still hasn't settled down. Very strong burley-ish, which C&D is known for, but the base is supposed to be Virginia. A very earthy Virginia, apparently. I've known VA's to show some earthiness but never to this extent. Two stars is still the best I can muster for this one.

UPDATE 10/22/13

Received a new tin, dated September 8. The bad news is that this tin tastes like the first batch I got. Heavy on the burley-ish taste, extremely limited sweetness from the VA that I'm told is in there but can't confirm through smoking. The perique is present but pretty subdued. This is a raggedy blend, very rough, and not just around the edges. Nothing like C&D is capable of with respect to their VaPers. I smoke and enjoy a lot of their stronger blends such as Kajun Kake and BF #3, and this leans heavily in that direction. Not a bad blend, but I think I was just expecting something more of a traditional VaPer with a C&D flair, and this one fails in that attempt. I'm wondering if Fiammata just needs some aging time in the cellar. I'm putting this away for at least six months to give it time to settle down. As of now, my "somewhat recommended" rating is more than enough. But there may be a good blend in there somewhere - crossing fingers!

ORIGINAL REVIEW 10/8/13

Sometimes I think that the reason I stink at blind tobacco taste tests is that I've smoked so many different tobaccos and I get confused and pick the wrong one when guessing the mystery blend. However, this one was so decidedly C&D-ish that I was surprised when I was told it was a Castello blend. Didn't know Castello blended tobacco and if it were sourced out, I'd assume Orlik or K&K or some Euroblender. Now I come here and find out that C&D did indeed blend this one. Maybe I don't stink as much as I thought.

The trouble is that I guessed this one first as Burley Flake #1 and then backed off and said Bayou Night. Oops - I guess I do stink as bad as I thought. Unfortunately, this one, as a VaPer, is so rough that it makes Bayou Night seem like a pussycat. There was an underlying sweetness but it had to be coaxed out. Mostly what I tasted was burley, and it makes me wonder if C&D didn't put BF #1 in my tin by mistake. Or at least a very young version of Bayou Night. This blend was deeply earthy, hardly sweet at all and showed only a whisp of perique saltiness (no plums, raisins or even pepper - just salt). The "burley" that apparently doesn't exist in this one was 85% of the flavor. Makes me think they plopped the wrong blend in the wrong tin. If not, this is a very temperamental VaPer that shows nothing of the excellence that C&D is capable of - witness their Bayou Morning blend, which is sweeter and gentler than Bayou Night but with tons of flavor. I may buy a tin of this to see if what I got was the real deal. This wasn't bad as it was but as a true VaPer, no thanks. I'll update this review when I buy myself a tin and finish it.